1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a method and an apparatus for introducing a sealing compound into a filter device, preferably into a dialysis filter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Filter devices, such as dialysis filters, have two flow spaces, a first space of which is formed by the tubular passages of the fibers of a bundle of hollow fibers and a second space of which is formed by a housing enclosing the bundle of hollow fibers, the end portions of the fibers being encapsulated in a sealing compound upon sealing. For this purpose, the bundle of hollow fibers usually is first inserted into the housing of the dialysis filter, and by means of a suitable method, the ends of the bundles of hollow fibers are encapsulated with the sealing compound.
Such methods for introducing the sealing compound are already known from EP 305 687 A1 and DE 101 47 907 A1. Here, special sealing caps are placed onto the housing of the filter device, through which sealing compound is introduced. These inlets for the sealing compound can be mounted radially or axially. The filter device is rotated, so that inside the filter device the two fluid spaces for blood and dialysate are obtained, which are required for instance for dialysis. After the sealing compound is cured, the sealing cap is withdrawn or cut off and replaced by a cap with corresponding inlets as required for dialysis. In this case, seals are usually required once again, in order to separate the two fluid spaces from each other.
In the method described above and with the apparatus for introducing the sealing compound necessary for performing this method, it is necessary to connect the connections of the housing provided for sealing with the sealing chamber which supplies the sealing compound. As this is a mechanical plug-in connection, connecting housing and sealing chamber with each other involves much effort and can largely be performed only manually. Theoretically, an automation of this connection is possible, but is extremely complex and expensive in technical terms.
From WO 03/006134 A2 a specially designed housing of a filter device is known. This housing has a frame with two inlet holes for the sealing compound, which are located at the respective ends. The sealing compound is applied centrally onto the surface of the housing. During the rotation, the sealing compound is distributed through the holes into the interior of the housing. However, the sealing compound introduced by means of this known method exhibits certain asymmetries. The desired uniform rotational symmetry cannot be achieved by means of this method.